The making of the ivory wedding dress cake by Sarah.

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NOTE: The following pictures and words are mostly by Sarah, a wedding cake baker based in the U.K. WeddingCakeHints.com are NOT bakers, simply bloggers with a sweet tooth. All references to the pictures should be addressed to Sarah the baker. Her contact information are found here, in case anybody is interested to have their wedding cake done with tha same care and detail. Thank you.

Sarah has made a pictorial documentation so we can have a glimpse on how the ivory wedding dress cake featured in a previous post was made. It’s a wedding cake recipe in pictures. We’d like to emphasize that the following account is a reprint of what she posted in this Flickr page.

Sarah’s story of making the wedding dress cake begins here…..

1. Design.

I thought it would be interesting to photograph the making of a wedding cake from start to finish. My Customer Zoe, wasn’t sure what she wanted but gave me lots of great suggestions including the fact that her and her fiance both love 1930’s design. She had chosen a beautiful Jenny Packham dress and we decided to use it as inspiration for the design of the cake.

2. Ingredients.

Zoe decided on three flavours for her cake. Fruit, chocolate and vanilla. One guest has a nut allergy and one is Gluten Intolerant. These are the ingredients for my gluten free fruit cake.

3. scrumpy and spirits.

Once the cakes are cool I start ‘feeding’ them. French brandy, J.D. and amazing Weston’s Scrumpy cider that is made in my BF’s home village in Herefordshire.

4. Pastillage.

I’m putting edible beads on Zoe’s cake so I’ve made some pastillage.

1. 250g icing sugar
2. dried egg white made up or one egg white.
3.2 tsp gum tragacanth.

Put the egg white in the mixer and add gum. Add the sugar a little at a time until you have a thick paste. Turn out and knead in the remaining sugar. You may not use all of the sugar or you may require a little more.
When you have a thick dough place in a plastic bag and then in a plastic tub.

I had been trying to find a reason to buy one of these jewel makers from Squires Kitchen

6. Modeling paste.

Knead together one ball of regular fondant/sugarpaste and one smaller ball of pastillage. If you need a very strong, quick drying paste use mostly pastillage, for a longer drying softer paste, use less.

7. Fill the mould.

I dusted the mould with a little icing sugar then pushed in little balls of paste.

8. Jewels.

I’ll put these away to dry completely. I collect those little sachets of silica gel and pop one in a plastic container under some kitchen towel. It keeps the moisture out a treat.

9. Swan pin.

Zoe said she would like swans to be incorporated into her cake. I found this photo of an Art Nouveau brooch and decided to use it as inspiration for a cake topper.

10. Stencil.

I cut a stencil from acetate to use as a template. I love my surgical scalpel. I always want to do an ‘Evil Doctor’ laugh whenever I’m holding it!! (you know…..MMMWAHHH HAA HAAA!)

The acetate works better as a stencil than card or paper as it stop the pastillage drying out during cutting. I usually dip my knife tip in a little white fat to stop it dragging the icing.

11. Hang it out to dry.

I’m drying this on a tin covered with the backing paper from edible printer sheets. I always keep them and use them for all sorts. They are brilliant for rolling out small amounts of sugarpaste or pastillage as they are non stick and you don’t need to dust it.

12. Piping.

I’ve piped in some pattern on the topper with royal icing.

13. First air brushing.

I flooded the swan shapes with a loose royal icing and then applied some colour with the airbrush. I’m trying to create a metallic finish to parts of it, I think it will take several layers of paint to get the effect I want.

14. Dress detail (inspiration for the main design).

I met up with the bride Zoe this aftrnoon and she showed me her gown. It’s so beautiful and the detailing is gorgeous. She was so excited and I find it one of the best parts of my job to meet people who are in the process of celebration. The wedding is on 30th June so next week will be busy making lots more sugar jewels! On Monday I’ll make up several batches of fondant so it has time to rest before I use it.
But for now I have the whole weekend off!! Off rock climbing and a nice glass of wine I think!

15. Swans.

I’ve finished the colour on the swan plaque. I was trying for a metallic, enamel finish that was popular in the ’30’s. I hand painted the leaves and water and then applied about 5 coats of edible varnish to get the enamel effect.

16. Ingredients for sugarpaste (rolled fondant).

Approx 2lb icing sugar
1 pack gelatine or 2 sheets gelatine
1 1/2 tbsp glycerine
1/2 cup glucose or corn syrup
water

17. Wet ingredients step one.

put 3 tbsp water in a bowl and warm using a double boiler. Sprinkle gelatine over and stir well. heat gently until all the gelatine has dissolved. (This is REALLY important, or you will get little lumps of gelatine in your icing.) Add the glycerine and syrup and stir well.

18.You decide… step two.

Put just over half of the sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Drizzle in the gelatine mix. Beat on a slow speed.
At this point you can add as much or little liquid as you need.
I am using this particular batch to cover a board, so I am making it very firm. For softer fondant add more liquid. It should look very sticky, not runny.
If you want to add flavour pop it in now. I like to use orange blossom water for a subtle taste.

19. Kneading, step three.

Put the rest of the sugar on the counter and start to knead. Add more sugar until you get the required consistency.
After a little practice it is really quick and easy to make up a batch.

20. A little colour, step four.

When the kneading is nearly done, add some colour. I use paste colours. If you use liquid colour, add it at step two as part of your liquid allowance.

21. Covering the board.

I use my home made spacers to roll out fondant evenly. Just two pieces of wood that are 1/4 inch deep.

22. Polishing.

Once I’ve put the fondant on and trimmed it, I use an offcut to ‘polish’ the fondant. It gets rid of any blemishes and gives a nice, subtle shine. I like to let the board dry for a good couple of days before I need to use it.

23. Sugar gemstones.

I have spent the day making the jewels for Zoe’s cake. I cannot tell you how many times I burnt my fingers!!! The cursing eminating from my kitchen today turned the air blue.
I made some for the cake itself and some to cast about on the display table.
Amber was big in the ’30’s and I thought the colour would contrast well. It did cross my mind to try and put a fake insect inside some but I had a word with myself!!

24. Dragonfly.

Zoe asked me to make a small cake to accompany her wedding cake as two of her guests are celebrating birthdays. One of them, Gary, introduced the couple to each other on his 40th birthday last year. Iwant the small cake to compliment the large one, so I am keeping the colour scheme the same and having two dragonflies as decoration. I wanted to be able to make several exactly the same so I made a mould. I sculpted a dragonfly from FIMO and cooked it for around 10 mins.

25. Dragonfly Mould.

I used a two part silicon compound. Mix equal parts together and pushed over the original .

26. Bish bash bosh! Four dragonflies in seconds few!

I used the mould to make 4 flies. It literally took a minute to do them. I now have the mould to use another time. I really like dragonflies so you may be seeing them alot :0)
I’ll make some wings tomorrow morning.

27. Supports.

Four cakes in the bottom tier. Fruit cake(V. alcoholic) Chocolate cake with choc ganache, and two vanilla sponges. (one more to go on this pile.
As there is quite a large top tier, each layer has supports and boards in between.

28. Choc ganache.

I covered all four cakes with choc ganache as it sets nice and firm and acts as support to some degree.

29. Hate this bit!

Covering a tall cake is a nightmare. If I try and do it all in one go, I will end up ‘doing my nut’!!!! The easiest way ( I think) is to measure the cake, in this case 10 inches tall and 24 inches diameter. Roll out a piece to that size, add a really thin layer of buttercream to the fondant and lay the cake on its side and roll across the icing.

30. Phew!

Trim up any excess. I dowelled the last layer and added one last board on top.

31. Add a lid.

Plop a lid on top. Once it has settled I’ll go over it with a smoother to get a nice finish. I now have to repeat this whole process for the top tier. The hard work is now done and I can look forward to decorating it :0) But first, show me the wine!!

32. Nearly done.

Nearly finished with the decoration. Just need to put some gems on the board and add some ribbon.I’ll fix the topper at the venue.

33. Dragonfly cake.

This is the little cake made to compliment the wedding cake. It is layered orange blossom flavour and vanilla. the orange blossom was tangerine colour so it will be stripey when cut.

34. Repair kit.

This is my little repair kit that I take with me when I deliver cakes. Fingers crossed that I won’t need it. I always get nervous at this point as I know I won’t have time to re-make a cake if I have a major accident!!! I will spend the next 12 hours thinking up bizarre possibilities e.g I will trip over a cat/dog/small child whilst carrying cake. I will fall down a very large flight of steps from top to bottom whilst carrying cake. A ten ton truck will drive into the back of my car on the way. The table will fall over at the venue. A crazy, bunny-boiling ex- girlfriend of the groom will rampage through the reception venue with a large mallet. I will think of at least a dozen more before delivery!!!

35. Last minute touch up.

Add the topper and add a few dabs of icing to hold it in place.

36. Safe and sound.

I scattered some sugar gems on the table as decoration.

37. All done!

Back home for a cup of coffee before I start the prep for this weeks cakes.

Now that we know what a labor of love it is to create a wedding cake, drop Sarah a line if anybody from the U,K, wouls one her wedding cael done with the same care.

Technorati Tags: chocolate, fall, ivory, round, wedding cake recipe, White

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